When a vegetarian is food fixed for the nth time !!

Being a vegetarian there have many situations where I have been a victim of food fix. Be it a birthday party, an official outing or a family dinner I have always been the cynosure because of my food preferences. Coming from Lucknow and not eating chicken or meat is something which astonishes almost everyone that I meet. I have even embraced comments like “your association with Lucknow is a waste because you have never tried their famous kebabs”, I am sure there are many who are nodding their heads in agreement. I am a vegetarian by choice not by any compulsion or force and if even one day I feel like treating my taste buds with meat I might do it. Like I said it is my choice not some stringent rule or petition that I signed up for.

I have always managed to make my way out of the numerous food fixes that I have had encountered until I fell flat on my face with one incident. It happened a few months back and that is the reason why everything is crystal clear in my head. A very close friend of mine was in town after a long time because of her mother’s illness. Aunty had to undergo a minor operation but when it comes to health and hospital nothing is minor. She was very worried at the day of the operation but by God’s grace everything went fine and doctors gave a green signal to bring her home. Now it was very obvious that I would visit aunty to check her well being.

We all know how overwhelming mothers can be when their kids come home after a long time and so was the case with aunty. Even though she was recovering from the operation she still managed to cook the lunch for us. The table was set and just when I removed the lid I could see a big leg piece drenched in thick cashew and butter curry. I was now in a fix, as to what should be my next course of action, should I put the lid back or should I serve some onto my plate. I couldn’t decide at that time and that leg piece ended up in my plate.

I might not eat it but I can always pose with it. The leg piece.

Going by my surname aunty specially cooked chicken for me. How am I supposed to say that I don’t eat meat to a women who is just out from hospital and cooked the meal specially for me. To my rescue there was daal too, and I took a lot of it and tried my level best to hide that chicken piece behind the daal bowl. The vegetarian in me somehow survived that lunch, but yes I had to dip in the gravy at times to show the authenticity of the eulogies that I was making up for the chicken. I felt bad and was disappointed in myself not because I ate the gravy but because how aunty would feel is she comes to know of what I did. My friend kept eyeing me every now and then just to make sure that I am at least having the gravy.

So far this was my most thrilling and adventurous food fix because I was confused on an emotional level deciding what to do and what not to do. From that day I have made a pact that I always tell about my food preferences at the very outset so that no one gets hurt later.

While I am mentioning about food I cannot help but tell you about my latest discovery which helps me with my mood swings of not cooking at home. It is the TinyOwl food ordering app. It gives you a list of all the nearby eateries along with the time taken for the delivery. So when in fix of cooking and not cooking, hop on to the TinyOwl app and I am sure you will end up ordering and enjoying a hassle free meal. Android users can check more about it here and apple users can know more about it here.